Dolly Darlings

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Dolly Darlings By Euphrates

Hasbro was on a roll in 1965-66 with its doll line. Two of my favorites are from this year: Peteena the Pampered Poodle and Dolly Darlings.

Dolly Darlings are 4-inch cuties with molded hair. They are in coy poses as if just coming out of a curtsey. The girls' eyes are looking innocently off to the left while the males are looking to the right. They have painted-on socks and shoes and great cloth dresses and suits.

The dolls have fun names like:

Beth at the Supermarket - HS
Boy Trap
Cathy Goes to a Party - HS
Dreamy
First Aid
Go Team Go
Hipster
Honey
John and His Pets - HS
Karen Has a Slumber Party - HS
Lemon Drop - hard to find!
Pajama Party
Powder Puff
Rose Flower
School days
Shari Takes a Vacation - HS
Slick Set
Slumber Party
Sugar N Spice
Sunny Day
Susie Goes to School - HS
Sweetheart
Tea Time
Technicolor
Teeny Bikini
The Flying Nun

Additional Accessories
Play House
Play Rooms - Party Parlor
Play Rooms - Boudoir
Paper Dolls

The early series of dolls are known as the Hatbox Series. These dolls were packaged in a plastic “hatbox” along with accessories that fit the theme. For example, in "Shari Takes a Vacation", Shari is equiped with a camera, an airplane, a car, some playing cards, airline tickets and more. In "Karen has a Slumber Party", Karen is packaged with a record player, records, a brush and comb, a terrior and other essentials. "Susie Goes to School" contains an umbrella, three small books - World Atlas, How to Cook & Alice in Wonderland, apple, Websters Dictionary, scissors, comb, slide rule and vinyl bag.

In 1967, they were given rooted hair; and in 1968, they released the Party Time series. I have heard that later, these dolls were made available as mail-in cereal premiums, and that the dolls offered were mix and matches of the earlier dolls, probably in an effort to dump inventory.

If you find one of these Darlings make sure it is marked with Hasbro on the back. There was a similar (actually, they were nearly identical!) line of dolls from the same period called Miss Merry. Uneeda's Tiny Teens from 1967, My Toy Company's Tiny Terry (a little taller but same expression) and Dankin's Flora Dora from 1968, are also Dolly Darling influenced. There is also a Marx line that is similar to the Miss Merry line that I have not been able to identify yet.

Prices are fairly erratic for these beauties. If you spend some time looking around, you can find them for about $10 each loose, but it’s not uncommon to see them selling for as much as $35 and as much as $70 each MIB.